Leave walgreens for CVS

Started by ancienbon
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A

ancienbon

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With only 31 tech hours, it is impossible to do all the tasks and to be a pharmacist at the same time. Right now, i am definitely looking forward to leaving the company as long as a new opportunity presents. If you are on the same boat, please share your story.
 
If you think it's bad there don't delude yourself into thinking it's better at CVS. There are many more stupid pointless programs at CVS due to Caremark. Just stay there and ride out the storm. CVS has driven out all of their best pharmacists so they have to monitor everything and make management idiot proof.
 
ancienbon said:
With only 31 tech hours, it is impossible to do all the tasks and to be a pharmacist at the same time. Right now, i am definitely looking forward to leaving the company as long as a new opportunity presents. If you are on the same boat, please share your story.
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Get out of retail my friend. Do you really think CVS, Rite Aid, Wal-mart, or Kroger are any better? They are not and one or two on my list are worse than Walgreens.
 
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MountainPharmD said:
Get out of retail my friend. Do you really think CVS, Rite Aid, Wal-mart, or Kroger are any better? They are not and one or two on my list are worse than Walgreens.
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Dude I don't want to hear it POSER! :meanie:

j/k congrats by the way on your retail exit...
 
Unchained said:
If you think it's bad there don't delude yourself into thinking it's better at CVS. There are many more stupid pointless programs at CVS due to Caremark. Just stay there and ride out the storm. CVS has driven out all of their best pharmacists so they have to monitor everything and make management idiot proof.
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Amen to this. As a CPhT there for years, I can testify to this. On average, our pharmacists stayed for two years max. PICs less than that.
 
Honestly, based on my own personal experience, I think CVS is better than working in a hospital. I went from being stressed to the point where most people either quit or have a breakdown (or, in my case, curse out the boss in a 15 minute diatribe dedicated to his total and wholly encompassing idiocy) to just going to work where I have time to actually think and do work without endless distractions.

Though people tell me that my hospital was horrifically managed, so maybe I'm an outlier.

But its pretty stress free for me. Run the place like its a business and its pretty easy to get "good metrics". Really, how hard is it? The computer tells you what to order...the computer tells you what inventory you have that hasn't moved in 90 days to send back. If you can read and understand very basic math, you can deal with the metrics. Granted, I only deal with metrics involving inventory...and the ones where I basically am not being a dick to patients...ah, the wonderful life of the night pharmacist...

I pity the rest of you daytime living schmucks.
 
Wag is just outright depressing now. Technicians who have been slaving for years for the company are just called into the mgr's office and ask to sign a paper accepting lower weekly hours or quit right away. People are pissed off. Everywhere, technicians are talking among themselves about switching to a different company. Some are even actively applying at work.

Not just technicians are affected, but assistant managers too. Wag is undergoing an internal restructuring at the management levels. Assistant managers may be changed to a different title that offers lower pay and shorter hours.

I really hope this is a temporary transition. If the situation continues like this, I doubt the company that hold up.
 
BrightLight said:
Wag is just outright depressing now. Technicians who have been slaving for years for the company are just called into the mgr's office and ask to sign a paper accepting lower weekly hours or quit right away. People are pissed off. Everywhere, technicians are talking among themselves about switching to a different company. Some are even actively applying at work.

Not just technicians are affected, but assistant managers too. Wag is undergoing an internal restructuring at the management levels. Assistant managers may be changed to a different title that offers lower pay and shorter hours.

I really hope this is a temporary transition. If the situation continues like this, I doubt the company that hold up.
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Agree on almost all points, except the last. Walgreens has one of the cleanest balance sheets around. It's not on Apple's level by any means, but the company is worth quite a lot. It may even be a little undervalued right now.
 
BrightLight said:
Wag is just outright depressing now. Technicians who have been slaving for years for the company are just called into the mgr's office and ask to sign a paper accepting lower weekly hours or quit right away. People are pissed off. Everywhere, technicians are talking among themselves about switching to a different company. Some are even actively applying at work.

Not just technicians are affected, but assistant managers too. Wag is undergoing an internal restructuring at the management levels. Assistant managers may be changed to a different title that offers lower pay and shorter hours.

I really hope this is a temporary transition. If the situation continues like this, I doubt the company that hold up.
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This is true, I received a call from a Wags technician asking if I was hiring. She was literally at work on the clock while on the phone with me asking for a job. Caller ID said Walgreens and she was speaking to a patient asking what time would they like to pick up their medication at one point during our phone call.
 
FYI for Walgreen technicians, CVS wants experienced walgreen technicians. A lot of time, you can probably get CVS to match your pay rate and benefits.

Cvs like WVU really isnt that bad. As long as you own the store, you will be left alone. A lot of it is common sense.
 
Making the transition from Wags float to CVS rx mgr. I start 4/16. We'll see how it goes. I'm told 120+\-/day and metrics are in the crapper. Hopefully it's not too terribly bad.
 
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rxlea said:
What makes one CVS better than another aside from labor differences? Is it really a matter of management?
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I'd say management, supporting cast (techs, interns), and (hopefully without getting flamed) the demographics of the population you serve. You're twenty-something yuppie waiting on his Vyvanse is going to be a lot nicer than your single mother and her one year old with otitis... in my experience.

Edit: Not just CVS, but any retail operation in general
 
Farmercyst said:
Making the transition from Wags float to CVS rx mgr. I start 4/16. We'll see how it goes. I'm told 120+\-/day and metrics are in the crapper. Hopefully it's not too terribly bad.
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CVS with 120 / day is definitely not too bad. I'm sure you'll be fine!
 
Farmercyst said:
Making the transition from Wags float to CVS rx mgr. I start 4/16. We'll see how it goes. I'm told 120+\-/day and metrics are in the crapper. Hopefully it's not too terribly bad.
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I've never worked for CVS, so I don't really know how the metrics all work or what they measure, but it seems like a low volume might make it harder to meet them, since it's a bigger impact on your percentages. 5 problems out of 100 = 5%, whereas a store of 300 would need 15 problems to look just as bad.
 
Ackj said:
I've never worked for CVS, so I don't really know how the metrics all work or what they measure, but it seems like a low volume might make it harder to meet them, since it's a bigger impact on your percentages. 5 problems out of 100 = 5%, whereas a store of 300 would need 15 problems to look just as bad.
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Depending on traffic density and outside assistance, it should be manageable. I know wags has the store mgrs certified as techs for the occasional high volume pharmacy runs (lunch breaks, 5o'clock/end of workday stuff.) If CVS cross-trains cashiers/mgmt to assist pharmacy, it should be easy enough. No real way to tell until I get back there and see what my staff are like.
 
Farmercyst said:
Depending on traffic density and outside assistance, it should be manageable. I know wags has the store mgrs certified as techs for the occasional high volume pharmacy runs (lunch breaks, 5o'clock/end of workday stuff.) If CVS cross-trains cashiers/mgmt to assist pharmacy, it should be easy enough. No real way to tell until I get back there and see what my staff are like.
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I've never been in a CVS that had front store help for pharmacy during busy times but maybe that was just my stores. Overall like you said, will depend on the staff but low volume CVS stores are REALLY not too bad. Its more when you get in the 300+ range where it can be a bit hectic
 
Avelox said:
I've never been in a CVS that had front store help for pharmacy during busy times but maybe that was just my stores. Overall like you said, will depend on the staff but low volume CVS stores are REALLY not too bad. Its more when you get in the 300+ range where it can be a bit hectic
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Yeah, the biggest gripe the DM had with the guy I'm replacing was the lack of stats on the non-dispensing activities (adherence calls, caremark mtm notifications, etc) He also said there's been a drop in volume, etc. I can do 120 myself in 8 hours and this is in 10, so I'm thinking it's just mismanaged time or poorly managed staff or both. Won't know for sure until I see it, but it sounds like it should be easy to turn a lot of that around. How many adherence calls could be needed on 120/day. At Wags there's usually 10-15 on 180-200 and many of those are carry-overs due to "unable to reach".
 
Farmercyst said:
Yeah, the biggest gripe the DM had with the guy I'm replacing was the lack of stats on the non-dispensing activities (adherence calls, caremark mtm notifications, etc) He also said there's been a drop in volume, etc. I can do 120 myself in 8 hours and this is in 10, so I'm thinking it's just mismanaged time or poorly managed staff or both. Won't know for sure until I see it, but it sounds like it should be easy to turn a lot of that around. How many adherence calls could be needed on 120/day. At Wags there's usually 10-15 on 180-200 and many of those are carry-overs due to "unable to reach".
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I know at a store that does 300-350 we had like... 60-70 adherence phone calls maybe? Only annoying part is that you have to call up to 3 times to get a hold of someone. Though to be honest, if your script count is lowish, the calls aren't too hard to make and you'll obviously have less. The scoring is based on % that you actually get to refill PAST due prescriptions - making the phone calls themselves aren't scored to my knowledge, which makes sense but makes things slightly dependent on your techs ability to get people to refill (or you if your making the calls).
 
Avelox said:
I know at a store that does 300-350 we had like... 60-70 adherence phone calls maybe? Only annoying part is that you have to call up to 3 times to get a hold of someone. Though to be honest, if your script count is lowish, the calls aren't too hard to make and you'll obviously have less. The scoring is based on % that you actually get to refill PAST due prescriptions - making the phone calls themselves aren't scored to my knowledge, which makes sense but makes things slightly dependent on your techs ability to get people to refill (or you if your making the calls).
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I will honestly tell you that it's a huge advantage to get better metrics at lower volumes stores than higher volumes by far. I have never had my adherence calls be less than 12 pages- some lower volume stores have 2 to 3 pages of adherence calls. The pharmacist Day 8 calls at higher volume stores can easily be 2 or 3 pages- at low volumes stores I have seen a low as 3 calls that pharmacist has to make. I am really impressed when I see a high volume store with great metrics because with high volumes stores- there's no way around it- you have to dedicate quality time and manpower to get great metrics.
 
Rxnupe said:
I will honestly tell you that it's a huge advantage to get better metrics at lower volumes stores than higher volumes by far. I have never had my adherence calls be less than 12 pages- some lower volume stores have 2 to 3 pages of adherence calls. The pharmacist Day 8 calls at higher volume stores can easily be 2 or 3 pages- at low volumes stores I have seen a low as 3 calls that pharmacist has to make. I am really impressed when I see a high volume store with great metrics because with high volumes stores- there's no way around it- you have to dedicate quality time and manpower to get great metrics.
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Oh ya I 100% agree. In high volume stores it just becomes a game to see how well you can get your metrics whereas in a low volume store there is a small potential that you can actually use the tools for good since you actually have the time
 
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